The present invention has to do with a structural utility strap, also referred to as a strap connector or tie connector used as a structural bracing material in the building and construction industry. The utility strap material to which this invention is directed consists of a semirigid elongated sheet metal strap of indeterminate length, commonly made of steel, and generally from 18-gauge (about 0.0478 inch or 1.2 mm) to 20-gauge (about 0.0359 inch or 0.9 mm) thickness.
This utility strap material is typically used as a structural bracing material because of its rigidity and tensile strength (it has good tensile strength, but is lower in tensile strength than nonstructural, much thinner, blue steel strapping material used as a packaging material, for example). The strapping material is much more rigid than the nonstructural packaging material, owing to the dimensions in which the structural utility strapping is commonly available. This material is rigid axially and in torsion and is bendable axially (about an axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the strap) only under a large applied bending force.
A typical use for this structural utility strap material is for joint brace connectors in timber frame construction. Use of these utility straps is required by building codes as a structural connector for floor-to-wall connection, for example. With the use of the metal braces to connect the joints of wall studs, floor joists, double plates, and the like, the building is tied together structurally. Without them, the building would fail structurally.
A typical structural utility strap is commonly one to three inches wide, is galvanized (for corrosion protection), and is prepunched in a set pattern of holes along its entire length. When used, fasteners, such as nails or bolts, can be inserted through the prepunched holes. The strapping material is of sufficiently high strength or rigidity that a nail cannot either be nailed through it, or used to form a pilot hole in it, without the material first being prepunched.
For years, this structural utility strap material has been sold to the building and construction industry in flat, straight, premeasured lengths. Typically, they are available in professional building and construction stores in flat, straight bundles with the individual straps being cut to lengths varying from nine inches to thirty-eight inches, and from nine feet to fourteen feet, thus occupying a substantial amount of shelf or storage space. Transportation, storage and handling of the nine to fourteen foot lengths on a job site is difficult, and the lengths are prone to damage from the construction vehicles used at the site. The shorter precut lengths of nine to thirty-eight inches are scattered around the construction site. As a result, these precut lengths are sometimes not used, the wrong size is often used, and often they are simply wasted.
The present invention avoids the drawbacks of supplying structural utility strap material to the building construction industry in flat, straight, precut lengths. The invention overcomes the cost of shelf or storage space now required for the bundles of utility strap material in building supply stores. The invention is easier to transport to and handle at the building site, and it eliminates the cost of loose straps, wrong sizes, and the associated waste. The invention provides structural utility strap material to any desired length required, where and when it is required, and also eliminates the waste and nuisance of precut straps at building sites.